Roary the Racing Car is a British stop-motion animated series created by David Jenkins and produced by Cosgrove Hall Films and Chapman Entertainment for Channel 5 and Nick Jr UK. The US version aired on PBS Kids Sprout (now Universal Kids) in the US and Treehouse TV in Canada.
Just like Fifi and the Flowertots, Bob the Builder, Tweenies, Peppa Pig, Little Robots, Mr. Men and Little Miss, Gordon the Garden Gnome and many other British shows, a US dub of the show was aired on Sprout (now Universal Kids) from 2008 to present.
Changes[]
Characters[]
- The characters now speak with American accents. There are also some changes to actors.
- Cici is changed to Zizzy.
- Drifter is changed to Dragga.
- Flash is changed to Furzz.
- Plugger is changed to Lugga.
- FB is changed to Trucksy.
Episodes[]
An example of an altered episode title of Roary the Racing Car, "Cici Spectacular"; for US releases of the show
- Cici Takes the Blame is retitled to Zizzy Takes the Blame.
- Flash Flips Out is retitled to Furzz Flips Out.
- Plugger's on the Case is retitled to Lugga's on the Case.
- Drifter's Last Day is retitled to Dragga's Last Day.
- FB in the Fast Lane is retitled to Trucksy in the Fast Lane.
- Cici Gets Fired Up is retitled to Zizzy Gets Fired Up.
- Flash the Marshall is retitled to Furzz the Marshall.
- Flash's Tea Party is retitled to Furzz's Tea Party.
- FB's Sleepover is retitled to Trucksy's Sleepover.
- Cici Spectacular is retitled to Zizzy Spectacular (see the title card).
- Cici Wins the Day is retitled to Zizzy Wins the Day.
- Mum's the Word is retitled to Mom's the Word (due to the spelling).
- FB for Football is retitled to Trucksy for Soccer (due to football is a British term).
- Plugger's New Job is retitled to Lugga's New Job.
- PC Roary is retitled to Officer Roary (due to PC or police constable is a British term).
- Law And Order is retitled to Rules Are the Rules (To avoid confusion with the long running NBC crime series of the same name).
- Dancing Queen is retitled to Queen of the Dancefloor.
- Big Chris Gets Lucky is retitled to Big Chris' Lucky Vest.
List of episodes found[]
- Roary's First Day
- Roary's Day at the Seaside
- Roary Takes Off
- Big Chris' Big Workout
- Tunnel Vision
- Big Chris Learns to Fly
- Roary Goes Back to School
- Stars 'N' Cars
- Roary Sees Red
- Rusty Takes a Trip
- Roary Cleans Up His Act
- Big Chris Forgets
- Big Chris Babysits
- Roary Gets it Wrong
- Computer Calamity
- Zizzy Spectacular
- Homesick Tin Top
Trivia[]
- Hit Entertainment gave Roary the Racing Car a US dub when aired on Sprout in the US and Treehouse TV in Canada, one that is very rare these days and several episodes of it have yet to surface. Despite this, possibly all episodes released on DVD have been found and made available online, though only one episode from Sprout was found. After 2012 the US dub was almost impossible to find at the point!
- Some streaming services stream Roary the Racing Car in the US, however, they use the UK dub, which is more common, even in the US.
- Some episodes of Roary the Racing Car were added as bonus features to other HiT entertainment DVDs in the US dub, which is how most of these got found.
- The US version has a different theme song from the original UK version. The US version was sang by Canadian voice actor Kerry Shale, and the original UK one was sang by British comedian Peter Kay.
- Most characters do not speak with their original British accents and instead have an American accent. The voice actors for most characters have also changed, such as Sam Hornish Jr as the narrator and Kerry Shale, Rick Zieff as Police Officer Pete or Hellie, and James! Katie as a news reporter Colin Murdock as Nick and Phil Lollar as Loada the characters' voices. However, Maxi now has a Brooklyn accent instead of an Italian one. Lugga now has a southern mid drawl accent! Dragga now sounds Japanese American in the US! Roary's voice changed, So did Tin Top with a different country accent and Furzz, Zizzy, Rusty, Malcom, Marsha, Trucksy, and Farmer Green's voice didn't change!
- The dub now uses American terms, such as truck instead of lorry, or Pal instead of lad!
- The catchphrase "Flash got to dash" was also changed to "Furzz must fly".
- Some episodes of Roary the Racing Car were added as bonus features to other HiT entertainment DVDs in the US dub, which is how most of these got found.
- Only 1 full DVD of Roary the Racing Car was released in the US, this DVD is simply titled Roary the Racing Car. This DVD was not available online for a while, making it somewhat rare, it was also unknown if it used the US dub or not. However, when it was eventually uploaded online by Jamesandedward7, it was found that it does indeed have the US dub.
Voices[]
- Sam Hornish Jr. as Narrator
- Maria Darling as Roary, Marsha, Cici (Zizzy), Zippee, and Breeze
- Rick Zieff as Maxi, Plugger (Lugga), and FB (Trucksy)
- Kerry Shale as Tin Top, Big Chris, and Big Christine
- Phil Lollar as Loada
- Martin P. Robinson as Mr. Carburettor
- Nicole Oliver as Mamma Mia
- Marc Silk as Dinkie, Copter Keith, Hellie, and Flash (Furzz)
- Colin Murdock as Nick
- Tom Hanks as James
- Carlos Alazraqui as Drifter (Dragga)
- Dominic Frisby as Molecom, Hugo Amarillo, The Pizza Boy, The Wheel Magazine Reporter, The Track Inspector, Rusty, and PC Pete (Officer Pete)
- Tim Whitnall as Farmer Green, Farmer Will, and Mr. Chubby
- Craig Lowndes as Conrod
- Murray Walker as Himself
- Tamsin Morwenna Banks as The Important Journalist